Godzilla (2014)
TOMATOMETER
Critics Consensus: With just enough human drama to anchor the sweeping spectacle of giant monsters smashing everything in sight, Gareth Edwards' Godzilla satisfyingly restores the franchise's fire-breathing glory.
Critics Consensus: With just enough human drama to anchor the sweeping spectacle of giant monsters smashing everything in sight, Gareth Edwards' Godzilla satisfyingly restores the franchise's fire-breathing glory.
Trailer
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Movie Info
In Summer 2014, the world's most revered monster is reborn as Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures unleash the epic action adventure "Godzilla." From visionary new director Gareth Edwards ("Monsters") comes a powerful story of human courage and reconciliation in the face of titanic forces of nature, when the awe-inspiring Godzilla rises to restore balance as humanity stands defenseless. (c) Warner Bros
- Rating:
- PG-13 (for intense sequences of destruction, mayhem and creature violence)
- Genre:
- Mystery & Suspense , Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Directed By:
- Gareth Edwards
- Written By:
- Frank Darabont , Dan Callahan , Dave Callaham , Max Borenstein
- In Theaters:
- May 16, 2014 Wide
- On DVD:
- Sep 16, 2014
- Box Office:
- $200.7M
- Runtime:
Cast
-
Aaron Taylor-Johnson
as Ford Brody -
Elizabeth Olsen
as Elle Brody -
Bryan Cranston
as Joe Brody -
David Strathairn
as Admiral William Sten... -
Ken Watanabe
as Dr. Ishiro Serizawa -
Juliette Binoche
as Sandra Brody
Related News & Features
-
Bryan Cranston Is The Infiltrator
– Variety
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LoginCritic Reviews for Godzilla
All Critics (261) | Top Critics (50) | Fresh (191) | Rotten (70) | DVD (4)
This is what you get, San Francisco, with all your douchey, flashy, dot-com money: You get stomped on by Godzilla.
Godzilla handles everything the military hurls at him: ships, guns, planes, rockets, even a squadron of HALO paratroopers. The only thing that can cut him down to size is being relegated to a supporting role in his very own movie.
The beasts just want to have fun, but the gravest letdown in Edwards's film is that, most of the time, he fends off the chance to have fun himself.
We're here to see the film's leading lizard, who is pretty gorgeously realized by an army of digitizers, even if he seems just a bit-player in his own movie for the first hour or so.
The first truly joyous popcorn action movie of the season.
It's a tad better than the 1998 Godzilla, perhaps, but that's not saying much.
The grandest illusion of the year. There's something gleefully mad about reintroducing Godzilla in a big spectacle, but keeping her on the sidelines while other monsters wreak havoc.
It might just drop your jaw once or twice, but to really establish the giant lizard as the star of a new franchise, this needed to be a more memorable outing.
Gareth Edwards' take on the king of the monsters is often entertaining, mature, and bold.
This new Godzilla [...] walks a fine line, and that it never loses balance is something of a miracle.
This reboot, for some un-godzilla-y reason, doesn't want to admit it's a creature-feature B-movie. Serious actors seriously try to make their running-down-a-corridor or obsession-with-a-contaminated-site or stares-at-a-monster very dramatic and believable
Cranston is our true hero, Godzilla our anti-hero, and they get the bum's rush in favor of flat depictions of other characters and creatures we've seen so many times before...
It has wonderful visuals and some terrific beats, yet has little-to-no story with woefully thin and passive characters.
A foreboding aura manifests itself, and what Gareth Edwards and cinematographer Seamus McGarvey do throughout all of the giant monster scenes is keep them in perspective, framing every shot of the monster with scale in mind.
Rekindles a love for the great summer blockbuster and the monsters of our treasured nightmares.
What is the line? 'It's not the Godzilla film you want, but it's the Godzilla film you need?' But it's neither.
[T]here's a sometimes doggedly to-the-point quality to the film that you can't help admiring in contrast to the breathlessness of so much CGI cinema.
While there's not much genuine tension along the way, the film manages a few clever twists within its mainstream framework that allow it to escape some of the pointless pitfalls of many other remakes.
Exhibiting such creative styles of directing, Edwards hones in on all of Godzilla's personality traits that have made him such an icon to the cinematic universe.
... 60 years after he first appeared onscreen, Hollywood finally has done "Godzilla" right.
More disaster movie than monster movie, "Godzilla" is a thrilling film with a faint examination of imperialistic hubris.
An air of unfamiliarity, strangeness, and gloom hangs over this sci-fi blockbuster.
It cracks me up to hear people complaining about the dramatic depth of the human characters. THIS IS A GODZILLA MOVIE...AND IT RULES!!!
I swear that same sense of dread that overwhelmed me watching all those cheesy if menacing "monster movies" of the '50s and '60s came back once more, only now accompanied by a recognizable cast and superior special effects.
A proper-sized blockbuster, where the humans are wholly incidental.
Sure, there's something to be said for teasing an audience... ratcheting up anticipation of what's eventually to come. But at some juncture - much earlier than director Gareth Edwards intends - Godzilla needs to stop being an extra in his own movie.
Audience Reviews for Godzilla
A return to glory for "Godzilla" after recent stumbles but when Cranston's not on screen, the humans become a chore to listen to or care about. Could've benefitted by having more Godzilla on screen, but nevertheless not a complete waste of time
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Super Reviewer
A decent, though heavily flawed and uneven reboot of the "Godzilla" story, with an interesting spin on the central character that is definitely a breath of fresh air. With that said, character development has seen better days, with a pretty bland background offered for each of the individuals outside of Bryan Cranston's. Aaron Taylor-Johnson's average performance can only carry this movie so long, even if the visual effects are really outstanding and the film almost coasts on this alone. It is not nearly as bad as the Matthew Broderick reboot from '98, but it is also pretty easy forget once the credits begin to roll.
MoreSuper Reviewer
From all the great reviews and money it made, I must say. I was kinda let down, like the visuals are beautiful, but you don't really care about the characters and their point of view, or you just don't care about them at all. Twelve minutes of Godzilla is not enough to fill my appetite for monster mayhem. The film is well directed and the story was good, just not enough Godzilla for a film that's named after him and is a waste of a great cast.
MoreSuper Reviewer
Gareth Edwards knows how to direct his material, waiting patiently to reveal his most gratifying tricks and sequences. Filled with solid performances and plenty of satisfying moments, 'Godzilla's great parts combine into a film that altogether triumphs its slow start and tedious romantic subplot.
MoreSuper Reviewer
Godzilla Quotes
- Dr. Ishiro Seriwaza:
- We call him...... ???!
- Vivienne Graham:
- The top of a primordial ecosystem, a god for all intents and purposes.
- Ford Brody:
- A monster
- Dr. Ishiro Seriwaza:
- The arrogance of men is thinking that nature is in our control, and not the other way around.
- Team Member #2:
- Is the bridge secure?
- Team Member #3:
- [Incoherent Screaming]
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